VR Tech Times

Our long-term Alcazar has done all sorts of jobs since it joined the fleet. City runs, airport pickups, the odd weekend getaway. But nothing quite like what it was asked to do recently. It had to play support car for our camera crew shooting a feature on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, and that meant a 2,700km round trip between Mumbai and Delhi with barely a day’s rest in between. I wasn’t driving the entire way myself, and the Alcazar was only handed over to me in Delhi by one of our drivers. His enthusiasm to ask me if we needed him to drive it back to Mumbai was a testament of how impressed he really was with the Alcazar. Folded third row frees up a lot of space for luggage. The brief was simple. The Alcazar had to carry three crew members and all their camera gear along with all our luggage. This is exactly the kind of job our Alcazar has proven good at before, and it didn’t disappoint this time either. With the third row folded flat, the boot swallowed almost everything. The capta...

The Keeway EZI Hypevolt-R is a premium step-through electric scooter that arrives in India as a CKD product, sold through Benelli and Keeway dealerships. It is the first product from EZI, Keeway's electric sub-brand, to reach our market. In our time with the scooter, we found it to be a genuinely capable product with some real strengths, but also a few areas that need attention. Reasons to buy the Keeway EZI Hypevolt-R Genuinely strong performance The Hypevolt-R's most pleasant surprise is how quick it is. With a 12kW motor and a 5.04kWh dual-battery pack, it manages the 0-80kph sprint in 7.49 seconds and 0-100kph in 13.05 seconds in Sport mode, which is genuinely impressive for an electric scooter. Three riding modes – Eco (45kph), Normal (81kph) and Sport (115kph) – give it useful versatility. Normal mode is the sweet spot for everyday use, offering enough punch for overtakes while preserving range. In our testing, riding mainly in Normal mode, we covered 125km on a charge. ...

The Mercedes-Benz GLC EV you see here is not merely an electric derivative of the GLC you and I are familiar with. It’s built on an all-electric platform, and it’s longer, wider, and built on a slightly larger wheelbase than the GLC. And it also does 0-100kph in just 4.3 seconds. The big news is that it’s coming to India by the end of the year. There’s lots to talk about, so let’s go one by one. Mercedes-Benz GLC EV Exterior Design and Engineering - 8/10 Large new grille reminiscent of older Mercs Let’s talk styling first, and what catches your attention up front is this large new grille. It’s very different from what we’ve seen of Mercs of late, but it actually has a link to Mercs of old. The upright grille is styled to look like the one on iconic models like the W112 S-Class, but there’s a lot of modernity built into it as well. There are 942 lighting elements in it! Talking of lighting, the three-pointed star on the nose glows and there’s a tri-star DRL pattern in the headlights to...

Ten years ago, Royal Enfield made adventure tourers mainstream with the original Himalayan 411 and the segment has slowly, but surely grown since. As with any other thing that gains popularity, this segment also has gained different kinds of options. On the one hand, we have the V-Strom that’s effectively a Gixxer 250 on stilts, and on the other, we have the KTM 390 Adventure S that looks to strike a fine balance between both adventure and touring capabilities. Admittedly, this can get a bit overwhelming, so here are all the adventure touring motorcycles you can buy in India right now between Rs 2-5 lakh. All prices mentioned are ex-showroom, Delhi. 11. TVS Apache RTX 300 Starts at Rs 1.99 lakh TVS is the most recent (new) entrant into the segment, with the Apache RTX 300 redefining how many features you can pack into on a relatively affordable budget. The RTX’s 299.1cc single-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine with 36hp and 28.1Nm of torque isn’t the most exciting but has the ability t...

When we first drove the all-new, all-electric Mercedes-Benz CLA, we came away impressed with its smooth powertrain and its promise of a substantial real-world range. We’ve now subjected it to our real-world performance and efficiency tests to see if it delivers on that promise. Mercedes CLA 250+ exterior design and engineering - 8/10 Polarising, aero-efficient design; based on new MMA platform. The new CLA has been designed with efficiency very much in mind, but Mercedes hasn’t completely abandoned the visual character that made the original car appealing. Its smooth, rounded silhouette is familiar from other Mercedes EVs, yet the low-slung, coupé-like roofline and frameless doors give it a distinct identity. Flush-fitting door handles, a sealed-off grille, aero-optimised 18-inch AMG alloys and a fully sealed underbody all contribute to an exceptionally slippery shape, with a drag coefficient of just 0.21Cd. Mercedes’ three-pointed star features prominently across the CLA, appearing o...